Full time: Watford 1-4 Tottenham Hotspur
Peep peep! Spurs make it consecutive 4-1 wins away from home and move to third in the table for the time being at least. They were superb; Watford were crap. Thanks for your company, bye!
PS Join Niall McVeigh for Arsenal v Crystal Palace, or else. I have your IP address.
GOAL! Watford 1-4 Tottenham Hotspur (Kaboul 92)
Don’t call it a comeback. Watford get a goal in added time, with Kaboul sliding in a free-kick at the second attempt after a brilliant save from Lloris.
90 min A bit of olé football from Spurs takes us into added time. They’ve scored eight goals away from home in five days; not bad preparation for Wednesday’s humdinger at home to Chelsea.
Updated
87 min The tempo is much slower now. Spurs are content to pass the time rather than try to score a fifth.
84 min A well-worked free-kick from Watford releases Kaboul on the left of the box, and his volleyed cross is acrobatically claimed by Lloris. That’s the first significant thing he’s had to do in the match.
82 min Janssen screams with pain as Cathcart plants studs onto the top of his foot. Cathcart is booked.
80 min “Hey Rob, here’s my review of the year,” says Kevin Smith.
“Manager of the Year: obviously it’s Bob Bradley. Hands down. I mean, just look at Swansea - 8 of 33 points (24%) with him, 4 of 24 (17%) without him.
“Player of the Year: Scott Arfield, because it’s nice to have a Canadian in the premier league again.
“Disappointment of the Year: Sticking with the Canadian thing, the lack of consideration Christine Sinclair gets for women’s player of the year. More international goals than anyone other than Abby Wambach (and she’s only 19 back), led Canada to a 2nd Olympic bronze as well as a domestic title, she’s still never finished higher than 5th in voting, and this year will be at best 4th. The top 3 includes Marta and Carli Lloyd, neither of whom got a medal in the Olympics, with Marta only scoring one goal (a penalty) the entire tournament.”
79 min Watford’s final substitution: Capoue off, Christian Kabasele on.
78 min Spurs make their final substitution: Kane off, Vincent Janssen on.
77 min Son continues to not score. First the last man Doucoure makes a vital interception; then Son lashes a bouncing ball over the bar.
Updated
74 min Amrabat winces his way off the field to be replaced by Jerome Sinclair.
73 min Amrabat bumps Wanyama over while protecting the ball and then collapses himself in the comedy style. He’s going to go off.
70 min The youngster Mason does well to deny Son a shooting chance after a fine long pass from Wimmer.
68 min A substitution for each side. Watford bring on the teenager Brandon Mason for Jose Holebas, who is on a yellow card, while Spurs introduce Ben Davies for the ever excellent Danny Rose.
Updated
67 min Trippier is continuing, though he doesn’t look particularly comfortable. He fell awkwardly after a challenge with Holebas.
66 min Trippier is struggling with a shoulder injury and might need to go off.
64 min “The fear,” says Peter McLeod. “Sure, we’ll always have it, and with good reason. It was super Spursy to qualify for the Champions League, book Wembley for our home matches and then go and lose the first two. But we need to have some perspective. Back in the late 90s Spursiness consisted of trying to copy Arsenal by getting a fancy foreign manager, then watching as Wenger racked up Doubles while Christian Gross almost got us relegated. Some fans complain about the Levy era but it’s been a dream compared to what came before.”
Updated
63 min Prodl is booked for a foul from behind on Son.
61 min Dele Alli is substituted with Chelsea in mind. He played beautifully, scoring twice and smashing a long-range shot off the bar. Harry Winks replaces him.
Updated
59 min Deeney, put through on goal by Prodl, is erroneously flagged offside. Morally speaking, it’s now Watford 1-4 Tottenham Hotspur.
Updated
58 min “Hai Rob!” says Arief. “I’m watching Spurs in Klaten, Indonesia now. What do you think are the chances of Harry Kane surpassing Thierry Henry’s 59 goals in first 100 appearances in the second half?”
Ordinarily I’d say it’s unlikely but with the way Watford are defending he could easily get the 58 goals he needs.
57 min “Agents Kabul and Gomes seem to have done their job, not forgetting Capoue who is joining in by being totally invisible,” says John Tumbridge. “Surely now is the opportunity to get Carter-Vickers on and see how he is in the Premier League and Janssen in the hope it will bounce off his backside and he can score without requiring a penalty.”
56 min Kane curls it low around the wall, and Gomes gets down smartly to his left to push it wide. I think it would have hit the outside of the post anyway.
55 min Capoue commits an offensively brainless foul on Rose 20 yards from goal. Eriksen usually takes free-kicks but Kane is on a hat-trick...
53 min Here’s Mark Turner.
“Manager of the Half Year: Allardyce. You want entertainment? Big Sam got your entertainment.
Player of the Half Year: Hazard. Nailed on. Can’t even think of a jokey alternative.
Disappointment of the Half Year: John Stones still being taken seriously as a defender.”
52 min Son slices wide of the near post after another fine move. I assume Spurs will declare soon, with Wednesday’s match against Chelsea in mind, but for now they look like scoring every time they attack.
49 min Doucoure’s low cross finds Deeney eight yards out with his back to goal, but he dithers and loses possession.
48 min “I was very disappointed when the FA deemed Big Sam too spicy but then the Premier League is more fun with him so let’s say he’s my pick for manager,” says Phil Podolsky. “Best player? Always liked that Yaya fella.”
<Bantz> What, Sanogo? </bantz>
GOAL! Watford 0-4 Tottenham Hotspur (Alli 46)
Dele Alli makes it four after 58 seconds of the second half. It’s another shocker for Watford. Prodl gives the ball away to Kane, who crosses to find Alli in his own personal postcode at the far post. He takes a slightly heavy touch but gets to the ball before Gomes and slides it under him with his left foot.
Updated
46 min “Following here in Vadodara, India, rooting for my Spurs,” says Rich Zumkhawala-Cook. “Is Trippier playing as well all over the pitch as he is in attack?”
The moment he has any defending to do, I’ll let you know.
Updated
46 min Peep peep! Spurs begin the second half.
“I’ll see your 3-4 and raise you a 3-5,” says John Dalby. I didn’t like to mention that. No team deserves to be reminded of being terrorised by Juan Sebastian Veron.
Matt Loten’s half-year awards
“Manager of the Half Year: Tony Pulis, because not even West Brom fans seem to give this man the love that he deserves. Not sure about his financial nous, mind, but I’m choosing to keep off-field issues out of my decision.
Player of the Half Year: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. To do what he’s doing, at his age, in ‘this league,’ is nothing short of astonishing. Context: The last Manchester United player to score 16 goals before Christmas was a 26 year-old Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Disappointment of the Half Year: Crystal Palace doing away with stripes for their home kit. It’s just wrong, I tell you. If Norwich were still in the top flight, though, it’d be their third kit.”
Half-time reading (optional, encouraged)
Half time: Watford 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur
And the scoreline flatters Watford. See you in 10 minutes to see how many more Spurs can get.
45 min Spurs know better than most about the dangers of a 3-0 half-time lead. I think they’ll be okay today though.
44 min Holebas is booked for a bad tackle on Eriksen.
GOAL! Watford 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur (Alli 41)
This could end up a darts score. Kaboul mishits a clearance across his own box, Alli beats Cathcart to the loose ball and slides it calmly under Gomes. Spurs have been entirely magnificent today.
Updated
40 min “If you need some space and time filler, how about if we choose our mid-season award winners?” says Hubert O’Hearn. “My idea so I get to go first:
Manager of the Half Year: Has to be Conte.
Player of the Half Year: Diego Costa. In large part this is why Conte is Manager of the season - he’s transformed the little ball of hate into the best striker in the Premier League.
Disappointment of the Half Year: Leicester’s title defence ... but we love them anyway.”
Was Leicester a disappointment? It was pretty predictable. I agree with the first two. My main disappointment of the half year? Alton Towers.
39 min Son misses a great chance to make it 3-0. He met Eriksen’s inswinging free-kick on the volley, 10 yards out, but slid it fractionally wide of the near post.
36 min Wanyama places his studs down the back of Amrabat’s leg, which gives Watford a free-kick. It lobs around the box for a bit until Alderweireld mistimes a header back towards his own goal. Deeney looks set to score until Kane appears to clear the danger. Who does he think he is, Roy Race?
35 min I bloody love this Spurs team. There is so much to admire about them.
GOAL! Watford 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Kane 33)
Two goals for Kane, two assists for Tripper. This time he produced a sensational right-wing cross, larruping it into the six-yard on the box on the half-volley, and Kane muscled his way between two defenders to volley into the net. That is a brilliant goal.
Updated
32 min “A Spurs fan mate of mine is at Cheltenham races this afternoon,” says Mark Turner. “I’m busy winding him up, so far told him that Watford are 2-0 up via an Alderweireld own goal and a Guedioura screamer. Will happily take suggestions for Chapter 3 of the wind-up (at some point he’ll check the interwebs and the fun is over). Happy New Year, Rob.”
Better still, tell him Spurs are 1-0 up and playing brilliantly. If that doesn’t give a Spurs fan the fear, I don’t know what will.
30 min Spurs are rampant. Alli’s majestic scooped pass over the defence almost puts Kane clear, with Prodl making a desperate and vital challenge.
GOAL! Watford 0-1 Spurs (Kane 27)
Seconds after Alli hits the bar, Kane gives Spurs the lead. Trippier, on the right wing, played a clever pass around the defence to put Kane through on goal, and he calmly placed it over the diving Gomes.
Updated
27 min Alli hits the bar with a brilliant rising drive from 25 yards. It was moving away from Gomes all the time and clattered off the bar. A goal is coming...
25 min Two of Tottenham’s centre-backs almost combine for a goal in open play. Alderweireld drives an angled pass over the top of the defence to put Dier clear. He has the chance to loop a header over Gomes, lurking in no-man’s land, but instead tries to head down to a team-mate and the chance goes. Moments later, Eriksen rifles just over the bar from 20 yards. Gomes had it covered.
24 min “I’m out there,” says Richard Wood. “Getting your coverage from Middleton, south Australia. Can we get Mike Dean in to give that penalty?”
He’s not actually the referee today, though such semantics needn’t be an impediment to him awarding a couple of penalties for shirt-pulling.
23 min Eriksen’s square pass is dummied neatly by Alli, allowing Rose to maraud onto the ball, control it with his left foot just inside the area - and then splatter a right-footed shot miles over the bar.
21 min
20 min This game is not very entertaining.
16 min Anyone out there?
14 min Watford haven’t got going at all in attack. At the other end, Kane wallops a 30-yard shot not too far wide of the far post. Gomes knew it was going wide and didn’t make an attempt to save.
10 min Spurs are beginning to control the match. Rose’s cutback finds Eriksen, whose hopelessly mishit shot slams off the outstretched hand of Capoue and behind for a corner. Some referees would have given a penalty there. That said, Eriksen’s appeal might have been an attempt to distract attention from the fact his shot was going approximately four miles wide of goal.
Updated
8 min Amrabat is a bit lucky not to be booked for a clumsy hack at Rose.
7 min Eriksen finds Son in space, 25 yards from goal. He moves infield and curls a decent left-footed shot that is comfortably held by the sprawling Gomes.
4 min Both sides have started busily, though nothing of note has happened. You’re welcome.
2 min Both teams are playing a back three, a formation that has come back from the dead in recent years. There are no right and wrong tactics, only fashionable and unfashionable ones.
1 min Watford kick off from right to left and welt the ball straight out of play. Happy new year!
Here come the players. It’s a grim day in Watford, with rain pelting down. Watford have had to make a last-minute change to their team: Juan Zuniga is injured so Odian Ighalo comes in.
The first email of 2017!
“I trust Messrs Kaboul, Capoue, and Gomes won’t forget that without their time at Spurs they would not now be playing for Watford,” says John Tumbridge. “They all have much to be grateful for.”
Is gratitude a legitimate defence in match-fixing cases?
Some pre-match nostalgia
Team news
Watford (3-5-2) Gomes; Kaboul, Prödl, Cathcart; Amrabat, Capoue, Guedioura, Doucoure, Holebas; Ighalo, Deeney.
Substitutes: Pantilimon, Sinclair, Folivi, Kabasele, Mason, Stewart, Rowan.
Tottenham Hotspur (3-5-2) Lloris; Dier, Alderweireld, Wimmer; Trippier, Eriksen, Wanyama, Alli, Rose; Son, Kane.
Substitutes: Vorm, Carter-Vickers, Davies, Dembele, Winks, Sissoko, Janssen.
Referee Michael Oliver.
Updated
Preamble
Hello, happy new year one and all. Whether in 2016 or 1900, Watford haven’t generally had the best of times against Spurs. Their list of defeats includes 7-0, 8-1, 5-0, 7-1, 6-3, 5-2 – not to mention 4-1 in the famous 1987 FA Cup semi-final. It’s 23 years since they last beat Spurs – and even that meant the square root of bugger all, because a 3-2 win in the second leg of their Coca-Cola Cup tie didn’t quite compensate for a 6-3 shellacking in the first leg at Vicarage Road.
That was then and this is now. Watford are an awkward side to face on their home soil - ask Manchester United, Everton and Leicester – but Spurs are an awkward side to face anywhere. They have only lost twice in the league all season and looked close to their exhilarating best in trouncing Southampton 4-1 last Wednesday. All told, this should be a good way to start a new year. Bloody better be because I’m in no mood for another 2016.
Kick off is at 1.30pm.
Updated
